The show, like the team it portrays, finds itself a youthful underdog, clawing for its competitive life.

The Fox television series “Pitch,” based on the first woman to break into the Major League Baseball as a member of the Padres, sits uncomfortably low in the ratings as the final fate-deciding innings loom.

Will the spotlight on Petco Park be a 10-episode blip, a fleeting whiff of Hollywood without the withering traffic? Will the chance to beam a gratis San Diego postcard from coast to coast vanish into the marine layer?

We’ll find out in a few weeks, when Fox announces its fall lineup.

“We spoke with some of the producers and share their enthusiasm to continue the project,” said Wayne Partello, the Padres’ chief marketing officer. “There’s a value to it, definitely. If you’re a fan of the show and living somewhere else, it’s a reason for more people to be interested in the Padres.

“It paints a great picture of our city and Petco Park.”

The picture proved a vibrant stunner, for sure. The question is whether enough people saw it to keep adding those get-to-know-us brushstrokes.

The show centers around a pitcher named Ginny Baker, who uses a screwball to break into the big-league boys club — uncomfortably, at most turns. It marked a groundbreaking partnership with MLB, which allowed the use of a real stadium and team in a series for the first time.

Traction proved tricky, though.

Deadline Hollywood proclaimed the premier a “slow start” as USA Today dubbed the series an early-season “miss.” Yet the show built unique ratings appeal among women and generated high numbers of DVR views.

Fox Chairman and CEO Gary Newman tight-roped the decision during the Television Critics Association press tour in January.

“We would’ve loved to see a bigger audience,” said Newman, adding, “We were very proud of ‘Pitch.’ … It’s very much on our minds.”

Let’s translate: This is a business, folks. If people in big offices fail to find enough pilots to flesh out a lineup or think the series can grow — cha-ching — they’ll suddenly embrace the show’s message of empowering women to shatter a glass ceiling with a chin-high fastball.

Just to double-check that thinking, I contacted Fox. They weren’t interested in talking, pending decisions and such.

Selfishly for San Diego, it would be great to keep the cameras rolling. Will the show translate into tens of thousands rushing to the mall for Padres gear? No. Will it cause ticket-selling hands to cramp under the crush of new fans? No.

The benefit is more subtle, yet all positive. For a team fighting to simply remain competitive, it’s wise to scoop up as much goodwill as possible.

Kylie Bunbury, who plays the trailblazing Baker, gushed to the Union-Tribune about San Diego’s walkability and our dog-loving sensibilities. The family of Mark-Paul Gosselaar, the beard behind faux Friar Mike Lawson, Baker’s catcher, ripped off a weeklong vacation in Ocean Beach and one son adopted the Padres as his team.

Baker’s “North Carolina” home is a house in Point Loma. Hundreds of locals have worked as extras in scenes filmed at Petco.

The chamber of commerce moments could grow, but only if someone continues barking “action.”

A group of women launched an Internet campaign to keep the show breathing. The Pitch Street Team, as they call themselves, designed a five-month assault on Fox executives — sending specialized postcards, baseballs and more.

The team saturated social media sites from Twitter to Tumblr with the hashtag #keepherinthegame, earning responses from Bunbury and show staff.

“People love your city who’ve never been to the city,” said Kelci Williams, 28, one of the group’s founders who soaks up America’s Finest City through a TV in Cleveland. “The show did a really great job of making San Diego a main character.”

The show-pushers discovered fans as far away as South Africa.

“There’s a woman in London who bought a Padres jersey and hat,” said group co-founder and East Coast fan Sabrina Lopez, 24. “I said, ‘How did you find that? I can’t even find that in New York.’ ”

One show, with a charming city as the backdrop, caused ripples across time zones.

The interest of Williams, who’s no baseball fan, also hooked a nephew and niece. She snapped up tickets for all of them when the Padres meet the Indians in July. Lopez, a Yankees fan, gritted her teeth to buy tickets in a rival park to see a team she suddenly cares about.

“I don’t even like the Mets, but I’m going to see the Padres since they’re not playing the Yankees,” she said.

For now, Padres officials are holding tight. Juggling days to film in the offseason is easier than shoe-horning a late-arriving holiday party or something keyed to a specific date.

“My wife started watching that show ‘Friday Night Lights,’ ” Partello said. “Now she buys a bunch of those Dillon Panthers shirts. She didn’t do it after the first season, but once it got into another season it was over.”

San Diego waits to find out if its homespun baseball drama can mount a comeback and charge into a new season of its own.

Fans of the show might want to brace themselves. Like following the real-world Padres, it could be a bumpy ride.

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He was limited to eight games last season with a foot injury. (Aug. 11, 2017)

He was limited to eight games last season with a foot injury. (Aug. 11, 2017)

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He was limited to eight games last season with a foot injury. (Aug. 11, 2017)

He was limited to eight games last season with a foot injury. (Aug. 11, 2017)

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The proximity to the field will offer fans a level of intimacy few other stadiums can match. (Aug. 10, 2017) (Sign up for our free video newsletter here http://bit.ly/2n6VKPR)

The proximity to the field will offer fans a level of intimacy few other stadiums can match. (Aug. 10, 2017) (Sign up for our free video newsletter here http://bit.ly/2n6VKPR)

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Authorities say the arrest occurred during a clash between police and community members at a housing project in Watts. (Aug. 10, 2017)

Authorities say the arrest occurred during a clash between police and community members at a housing project in Watts. (Aug. 10, 2017)

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The United States Treasury Department says legendary Mexican soccer player Rafael Marquez Alvarez and a well-known norteño band leader are among 22 people sanctioned for alleged ties to a drug trafficking organization. (August 9, 2017) (Sign up for our free video newsletter here http://bit.ly/2n6VKPR)

The United States Treasury Department says legendary Mexican soccer player Rafael Marquez Alvarez and a well-known norteño band leader are among 22 people sanctioned for alleged ties to a drug trafficking organization. (August 9, 2017) (Sign up for our free video newsletter here http://bit.ly/2n6VKPR)

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Someone familiar with Butler’s plans said he wanted to “say goodbye and thank you.”

Someone familiar with Butler’s plans said he wanted to “say goodbye and thank you.”